This specification relates to providing alternative search results.
Internet and intranet search engines aim to identify resources (e.g., web pages, images, documents, processes, multimedia content) that are relevant to a user's needs and to present information about the resources in a manner that is most useful to the user. In response to a query submitted by a user, search engines return search results referring to resources identified as relevant to or matching the query.
Unfortunately, the search results returned by the search engine may not align well with what the user has in mind, for example, if there is ambiguity in the meaning of the query terms. Even if the search results returned are relevant objectively to the query, the results may not be relevant to the user's actual subjective needs. Intranet search engines, in particular, may return few results relevant to a given query, due to the small number of interlinked resources of an intranet relative to the large number of interlinked resources available on the Internet.
In some circumstances, the user may know of a resource that better matches the user's needs than the resources referred to by the returned search results. Alternatively, the user may identify a resource that better matches the user's needs after searching through a large number of returned search results or through resources linked to a resource referred to by one of the returned search results. In these cases, the user may want to share knowledge of the good resource with other users who search using the same query or a similar query in the future.
Some search engines allow users to suggest resource addresses for the search engine to search and index. Some administrators of search systems will accept user-suggested alternative search results, for example, through e-mails or an issue tracking system. Generally, an administrator must manually add the alternative search result (e.g., with custom software) to search results generated by the search engine before the alternative search result is available for presentation to other users.